Picked up about firm taking on third of executives (9)
I believe the answer is:
overheard
'picked up about firm taking on third of executives' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'picked up about firm taking on third of executives' is the wordplay.
'picked up' becomes 'heard' (hearing is a kind of picking up).
'about' says to put letters next to each other.
'firm taking on third of executives' becomes 'over' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'heard' put after 'over' is 'OVERHEARD'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for overheard that I've seen before include "Eavesdropped on (a conversation)" , "Accidentally caught" , "Head rover (anag) - listened to secretly" .)